Monthly Outlook: December 2008

Recap: My labwork still sucks, but my professor thinks something is salvageable. Meanwhile NaNoWriMo went pretty well, despite my growing hatred for the story (actually it went down until about when I hit 30k or so, and then built up again). I didn't exercise or study French, which was bad, and I drank more hot cocoa and tea than I ever did (spending money...) I got my brother to give me his keyboard, so I jammed a little on it, but haven't touched my oboe. Maybe I should... Anyway, NaNoWriMo was awesome and I feel much happier because of it, even though I still don't have friends or a life!

Outlook: Well, it's going to be a mad dash to the end, which will be December 16 for me. December 17 I'm headed back to Michigan. I will take some time off to go to the volleyball games (regionals at UW!) and will probably need to work this weekend and next weekend around those times. I'm actually a bit sick right now (and missed the last 2 home volleyball games), so I hope to feel better! Sometime I will go shopping, though I keep being lazy... Hmm... Somewhere in here I'll start a mini writing challenge (500 words/day minimum on anything), try to learn some more French (Berlitz self-teacher lessons 21-40), read some stuff in Spanish (Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his famous book, maybe). Definitely going to be a month inside.

Events/Activities: volleyball regionals!, going home

Goals: resume French studying, keep writing, not be so sick, get some lab results!

Fever!

I have a slight fever. The thermometer in my mouth reads 99.1 degrees F. Looks like this is my first time getting sick in Seattle. What a bad time to be sick...but everyone is, it seems. I think I got it from the labmates too.

Hope I'm okay for Monday. I really have a shitload of work to do, or at least try to do.

Just a small sports update.

Currently watching UCLA vs. Michigan that I recorded a while ago. Somethings don't change, like how often Manny Harris can miss layups. There are some new faces that I don't recognize, like guys #1 and #0. DeShawn Sims still looks like an idiot, and I like Kelvin Grady. We'll see how much of Michigan basketball I'll actually try to watch this year... They are probably better than UW basketball.

Pissed off that my volleyball recording was overridden by Seattle U basketball. Women volleyball players from SoCal >> Seattle U basketball players. Seriously.

Otherwise, tennis season is over and I am a bit sad about it. But yay Spain for the title. The match of Nando Verdasco vs. Acasuso wasn't great tennis, but great emotions. Actually the doubles was probably the best of the matches. I really can't wait for the next tour season (don't have enough time to follow challengers); it's going to be awesome!

Stupid UCLA men's soccer lost to UC Irvine?? Why go on a 10 game unbeaten streak and then lose at the tourney... And of course Michigan and Peri Marosevic have to be awesome the year after I leave... One of the sucky things about graduating early, I guess... But seeing Cynthia and Foluke live kind of outweighs any college soccer. Pac 10 sports rock!

I WIN.

I got to 50,000 words for my NaNoWriMo 2008 project. I absolutely hate the story and where it was headed, so the last 5000 or so words was definitely a chore. The story is almost finished, so once I put the battle scene in (a fantasy novel with one battle scene at the very end, I know, very strange) I am done! I like the main character, Tanya, but I hate the story. I need to remake the world, and all kinds of other things... She definitely complained to me about not having enough fun mysteries to solve, so we'll see... I'm already thinking up characters for a high school romance story. Yes, what's wrong with me? I obviously lacked having gossip about who like who and all that fun stuff in high school, so I'm still catching up haha.

I'm totally going to miss the distraction that NaNo was, but I really should get back into reading again. My stupid cells took longer than expected to grow, so I have to do the bulk of labwork tomorrow instead of today, though hopefully it happens in 4 or less hours. Then I'll scurry off to the library and also sometime buy a cake... I'm looking for something under $15, and preferably with chocolate. We will see what I find.

Too sick to go outside... I know UW will kill the 'Zona teams and I need to blow my nose like every 10 minutes... Should do some knitting and finish that bag, then maybe a banner or scarf or something... I have way more of the bisexual-themed-colored yarn then I need. Oh, and that purple sweater-jacket-coat that I was going to make...should start that!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have many things to be thankful for, even with this rough November. I list them off briefly (hope I don't forget anything obvious), since I'm soon going to be at my Aunt's place for brunch.

1. Being healthy.
2. Enough money for essentials (especially food) and a few gifts.
3. A wonderful artsy, liberal city.
4. Family who care about me even when we don't connect emotionally.
5. A few friends who still remember me.
6. The internet, especially to find other people who seem to be as crazy as me.
7. Books, for the joy and entertainment and emotions someone else's words can bring me.
8. NaNoWriMo, for giving me small successes in an overall frustrating month.
9. Music, for being so beautiful and so uplifting and warming my soul.
10. People in general, for their ability to help complete strangers and care about people they don't even know, it's really unlike anything else in the world.
    

NaNoWriMo is saving my life.

Wow, I am having such fun doing NaNoWriMo! I wish I had done this in high school, it would have definitely livened up my life. Back then I had a bit more of an imagination. But it's never too late to start doing NaNoWriMo, and I can still dig out some imagination from somewhere, as witnessed by my 30,000+ words I've written so far.

NaNoWriMo has let me reengage my creative side. It also helped me remember the joy of writing, of putting my inner sarcasm and humor, the rush from achieving simple goals, and the fact that I am crazy but I'm not the only one. NaNoWriMo has kept me away from boredom, away from depression, away from feeling failure. It has been an absolute wonder. It has also reminded me that despite my loserness and the fact that I am terrible at making friends, I can still be happy and find people who share something in common with me. I feel like I'm going back in time, back to high school where I would be reading and writing and sharing in the joy of the written word, the joy of sharing sentiments and opinions with other people, the feeling of not being alone in a world where people try to act more and more "normal" and repress their crazy sides and wanting to break free.

Also, I love how artsy Seattle is. I just need to find more of these people, though it's hard when you are a graduate student in the sciences. I really haven't forged any friendships with people through NaNo, but just going to a write-in and seeing other people crazily typing on their laptops, randomly bursting into conversation about their characters and their plots, and also (especially with the university ones) finding people who don't judge you by how you write, but instead applaud you for trying... I just love it. And yesterday, going to the protest and marching down from Volunteer Park to downtown Seattle, demanding my right to marry whoever I chose with about 6000 other people. Seattle is a lonely place but still wonderful.

Of course it would have been easiest if I had joined a program not located in a city, or with people desperate to make friends with each other because they had no one else, but it wouldn't be in Seattle. My need to achieve my own selfish goals outweighs my need to achieve those "normal" ones of forging friendships, contacts, success in my job. The one downside of NaNo is that I find myself less motivated to do schoolwork or labwork, but it distracts me from the frustration of it. Thus I've had a bit of a rocky November in the lab, but it's not dampened my spirits. I hate my project but I like the lab, and perhaps my professor will appreciate NaNo in the end because I won't think so badly upon this lab rotation despite my struggles.

I do hope someday to make some friends here, but I always do things slowly, so I will not worry about taking my time, being picky. I have close friends who care about me even though I'm thousands of miles away, and that's all I need. Well besides food and sleep and fun things to read!

I don't think I'll be updating much more this month because of NaNoWriMo, which means that I'm happy and occupied. Especially with the NaNoWriMo forums...they are such a drug.